The Crazy Snow Nightmare, Part 3.

The snow from the window of Erik's apartment.

So, Monday they called us and said the office was going to be closed, so we should work from home that day instead of coming in.  I was kind of skittish about getting stuck again, so that was fine by me.  By Tuesday much of the snow had been cleared off the road, so with my chains on, I made it out of my neighborhood and took the very sloooooooowwwwww journey to my office.  I worked that day (we happened to have our Christmas work lunch that day, luckily, so we all got to leave the office and go out to lunch for a few hours!), then went and did 99.9% of my Christmas shopping in case I couldn't get out again, since it was supposed to start snowing again--thank goodness I did!

Off the deck of Erik's apartment.

Wednesday we got the "Come if you can, work from home if you can't" call, and with one look at the craziness out my window, I took the second option.  Snowy, snowy, snowy, and coming down hard!!  Thursday and Friday were more of the same, with both days having brief sunshine breaks throughout the day, but it was suuuuuuper cold.  

The whole week we were watching school closures, because we were supposed to be working at two different middle schools, and every day school was cancelled.  For one school, they decided to have a two-hour delay on Thursday, but held school.  I was all ready to go, so I made the attempt to get out of my neighborhood.  With my chains on, I just BARELY made it up the first little hill, took TEN minutes to make it up the second hill and just made it to the top, and then just before the final hill, I spun out.  My co-worker, Scott, had just called me when I started spinning...he may have heard some words he wasn't expecting from me as I threw my phone across my car and attempted to regain control.  I landed in a snowbank on a side street where there hadn't been any traffic for a few days, and I gave up.  I picked up the phone, told him I was going home, and he made the trek to the school instead.  I called my boss and told her I couldn't get out (seriously?  A few surveys are SO not worth wrecking my car and risking my safety!), and I slid and skid my way home.

A house in my neighborhood.

Thursday and Friday we had a friend and her sweet 4-month old baby stay at our house because of some problems she was having, so it was fun to have some people at our house and something fun to do!  :)

Friday night Erik and I had our Christmas date (more on that later maybe), so he came in with his 4-wheel drive, we had dinner at my house, then we ventured out to visit some lights.  That was the first time I'd been out of my house since Tuesday.

The cool, ice-covered trees.

Saturday Erik headed back up to the Tri-Cities for Christmas.  He'd already been out of school for a whole week! because of snow days, and was ready to be headed home and really be on holiday.  I woke up to it snowing REALLY hard, and Erik just made it through the Gorge in near-zero visibility before it was closed for about 4-5 days.

The view from my driveway.

By Sunday I seriously needed a break from my house (hello, cabin fever!), so I hiked 2 miles each way to go to church.  It was FREEZING, but totally worth it.  I've never BEEN so happy to go to church!!

The ice on my poor car...before the worst of the storms.

On Monday our friend Kerry came to pick me up with her baby (her Subaru did AWESOME in the snow!!), and we went up to a little store in my neighborhood (one of the only ones open), just to take a little break and get out of the house.  

Later that day I called Erik's roommate, Dave (Puddy), because he had been snowed in and his flight to Boise got stuck there on Sunday night.  I told him I was bored, and he said he was coming to get me.  So I hiked out and he picked me up, and we went to our friend Ann's house (who had also been snowed in and had not one, but TWO flights cancelled), and we made an awesome dinner, watched Christmas movies, and baked cookies.  It was a blast.  (Hence the sugar cookie nativity posted previously).

My flight was supposed to leave on Tuesday evening (the glory of having no time off because of a new job!), but I didn't know how I would get out of my neighborhood to get TO the airport.  Erik's roommate decided we could have an adventure, so at about 1 AM, we made the trek down into my neighborhood, made it almost all the way to my house, and I packed as fast as I could then we started the crazy journey to their apartment.  We got there about 3 AM and crashed (since Erik had already gone home there was an extra empty bed and bedroom!!).  Then we got up the next morning, ate breakfast, and Dave took me to the MAX (train) station.  It took almost 3 hours to get to the airport from Hillsboro, but I eventually made it and was able to fly out--one of the few days that flights left that week!  Hip hip hooray, I went home for Christmas!  :)

And just a little sidenote...we know everyone was thinking Portland was just being wimpy because of a little snow, but the truth is, we got a TON of snow.  There was almost 4 feet at my house.  Even for Utah, where they're used to the snow, that's a lot for basically one storm.  And in Utah they're prepared for this craziness--in the town of Hillsboro, population of something like 200,000, where Erik lives, they literally have FOUR snowplows for over 1500 miles of road.  No wonder they couldn't keep up!  Plus because of the environmental crazies, they won't salt out here, so they just pile dirt and gravel and occasionally de-icer, and then wonder why it doesn't work.  Plus we had snowstorms followed by ice storms followed by snowstorms.  It really, truly was crazy here.